Mary Catherine of St. Augustine, OSA, (french: Marie-Catherine de Saint-Augustin) (3 May 1632 – 8 May 1668) was a French

canoness regular Canons regular are priests who live in community under a rule ( and canon in greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by a ...

who was instrumental in the development of the

Hôtel-Dieu de Québec The Hotel-Dieu de Québec is a teaching hospital located in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, and affiliated with Université Laval's medical school. It is part of the Centre hospitalier universitaire de Québec (CHUQ), a network of five teaching hos ...

in service to the colony of

New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spa ...

. She has been

beatified Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...

by the Catholic Church.

Early life

She was born Catherine de Simon de Longpré in the town of

Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte () is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France. It is situated in the Cotentin Peninsula near Valognes. Its population was 2,099 in 2018. History The Château de Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte, a ...

, then part of the ancient Province of

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

in France. Raised primarily by her grandparents, as a child she showed a marked concern for the needs of the sick and the poor. In 1644 she entered the monastery of the

Canonesses of St. Augustine of the Mercy of Jesus The Canonesses of St. Augustine of the Mercy of Jesus (Augustinian Hospitallers) are a Roman Catholic religious order of canonesses who follow a semi-contemplative life and are also engaged in the ministry of caring for the sick and needy, from whi ...

in Bayeux, which operated the Hôtel-Dieu of the city. She was received into the novitiate of the Order on 24 October of that year, at which point she was given the religious name by which she is now known.

New France

In the year 1648 she was among those of the Order who responded to the appeal to help the canonesses in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

who had founded the Hôtel-Dieu there for the needs of the colony. On 31 May, then aged 16, Catherine set sail for the colony. While en route, she fell victim to the

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pe ...

, from which she was cured in what seemed a miraculous way, which she attributed to the protection of the

Blessed Mother Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

, through the means of a statue of her which she had brought with her from France and which is still revered as miraculous. She arrived in the port of Quebec on 19 August. After Catherine's arrival, she began the task of nursing the sick in the hospital of the monastery, attending to both their spiritual and physical needs. She learned the languages of the

First Peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

of the region to serve them better. She would work to bring the patients closer to God. The superior of the hospital later testified that she and the other canonesses could tell that Catherine would spend long periods in prayer and undertook severe

mortifications Mortification of the flesh is an act by which an individual or group seeks to mortify or deaden their sinful nature, as a part of the process of sanctification. In Christianity, mortification of the flesh is undertaken in order to repent for s ...

of her body in support of her spiritual mission, to the point of endangering her own health. At the same time as she also cared for the patients in these different ways, Catherine spent nine years as treasurer of the hospital. Additionally, she was entrusted with the task of forming new candidates to the community as

Novice Mistress In the Roman Catholic Church, a novice master or master of novices, lat. ''Magister noviciorum'', is a member of a religious institute who is responsible for the training and government of the novitiate in that institute. In religious institutes f ...

. Yet, despite this harsh way of life, both her superior and the famed Ursuline of Quebec, Marie of the Incarnation, attested to the sweetness of disposition Catherine continually exhibited in dealing with others throughout her life, and for which she was known throughout the colony. Houghton FC6

Catherine of St. Augustine died in 1668 at the hospital she had helped to run, aged 36. She was widely held by the people of New France to have been a saint.

Veneration

Due to her self-sacrifice for both the European settlers of the colony and for the native inhabitants, Catherine came to be honoured as one of the six founders of the Catholic Church in Canada, representing the contributions of the Augustinian canonesses. The cause for her canonization was presented to the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

Vatican City Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticanae),—' * german: Vatikanstadt, cf. '—' (in Austria: ') * pl, Miasto Watykańskie, cf. '—' * pt, Cidade do Vati ...

. Catherine was declared to have lived a life of extraordinary virtue on 9 March 1984 by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

. Declaring that she offered her life for the establishment of the Catholic faith in Canada, this same pope, on 23 April 1989, beatified her. Catherine's feast day is celebrated in Quebec on 8 May. Her remains are preserved for veneration at the Centre Catherine-de-Saint-Augustin, adjacent to the Hôtel-Dieu.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Catherine De Saint-Augustin 1632 births 1668 deaths People from Manche 17th-century French people Augustinian canonesses French nurses French women nurses People of New France Canadian nurses Canadian women nurses Burials in Quebec French beatified people Canadian beatified people Beatifications by Pope John Paul II Venerated Catholics by Pope John Paul II